Flexible bags are utilized for many purposes, and typically with retail merchandise, carryout food items, fast food, etc. Such bags are generally fabricated of paper by conventional automated machinery and equipment, which provides rapid, continuous production. Little change is required in such machinery and equipment to produce virtually any particular type of bag of the general type.
Detachable sections, such as coupons and the like, have long been provided on cartons, envelopes and flexible bags. Such detachable or tear-away sections may contain advertising material, communications, stamps, coupons, etc. The detachment of such sections left sizable, undesirable openings in bags which interfered with their containment function.
Detachable sections may be utilized by customers in obtaining purchase discounts or other proposed arrangements, may contain particular advertising matter, and may serve other purposes, such as providing receipts, numbering systems, inventory control, etc.
Bags with detachable sections are the subjects of U.S. Pat. No. 3,804,323 to Bemel, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,163,756 to Riseman (Bagcraft Corp.). The Riseman patent relates to a flexible bag with a detachable coupon section on a flap attached at an edge thereof by an adhesive seam, with the outer edge of the flap unsecured. Detachment of the coupon section and its removal leaves no opening in the bag and does not affect the utility of the bag in retaining contents, etc. The coupon section can be removed before or after utilizing the bag contents. However, with the flap being attached only along one edge, the flap is loose and subject to undesirable interference with equipment used to produce the bags or in assemblying and packaging bags. An example is that vacuum suction apparatus or suction cups can engage a flap, as when moving a bag in production, removing from a machine, or pulling a bag from a stack, the rest of the bag being dragged or lifted by the flap, thereby causing jamming of equipment, complications in operation, or other interference with equipment or procedures.
The present invention provides a flexible bag having a detachable section having the advantages of the above-mentioned prior art bags, and without the disadvantages thereof. The bag of the invention comprises front, back and side panels, a bottom panel and a flap panel extending from a side panel and extending partially across the back panel, being secured to the back panel at the flap panel outer edge and may be secured to the back panel from the opposite edge of the flap panel adjacent the juncture of the flap panel with the side panel. A detachable section is defined by perforation lines, including two spaced-apart generally parallel lines, and a perforation line transverse to the spaced-apart lines. The perforation lines may be defined in the back panel in embodiments wherein the back panel overlies the flap panel, and the perforation lines may be defined in the flap panel in an embodiment wherein the flap panel overlies the back panel. The flap panel may preferably extend about half the width of the back panel. The bag is preferably formed of a blank having folded score lines defining respective panels, fold lines and the detachable section.